Glamorgan

Divorced, Bigamist, Bereaved – Interpreting Your Ancestors’ Second (and Subsequent!) Marriages

It’s very likely that some of your ancestors married more than once over their lifetime. But why precisely? and what can their remarriages tell us? How likely was remarriage after a bereavement, and what social and legal factors affected that decision? When was it possible to obtain a divorce? And if people committed bigamy, what were the likely consequences for all concerned? Drawing on thousands of cases, from the Old Bailey to magistrates’ courts, this talk provides new research findings on the nature and extent of remarriage in past centuries and decades to help family historians interpret their ancestors’ lives.

Our speaker: Rebecca Probert

Rebecca Probert is Professor of Law at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on the law and history of marriage, bigamy, divorce and cohabitation, and her publications include Marriage Law and Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century: A Reassessment (2009); The Legal Regulation of Cohabitation: From Fornicators to Family, 1600-2010 (2012), Marriage Law for Genealogists (2012), Divorced, Bigamist, Bereaved? (2015) and Tying the Knot: The Formation of Marriage, 1836-2020 (2021). She has appeared numerous times on TV and radio, including Harlots, Heroines and Housewives, A House Through Time and Who Do You Think You Are?

This free session via Zoom is open to all who register, but to find out more about the Glamorgan Family History Society and the benefits of being a member, please visit our website

Please note that the Zoom link will be sent out after registration closes.